Building covering unit



Nov. s, 1938. w B F IED 2,135,572

BUILDING COVERING UNI T Filed March 2, 1938 Jig- 3 ,Z ,2; zjj 2 2 48 TTORNEY.

, half brick elements of the Patented Nov. 8, 1938 PATENT OFFICE BUILDING COVERING UNIT William B. Fried, Pittsburgh, Pa., assignor to Briktex Incorporated, Newark, N. J.

Application March 2, 1938, Serial No. 193,506

5 Claims.

This invention relates to shingles for use in covering buildings.

One object of this invention is to provide a shingle, the face of which is formed and shaped,

to present the appearance of a portion of a brick wall, with the bricks of normal customary sizes and dimensions, and arranged in the usual staggered relation.

Another object of my invention is to provide a shingle of the foregoing character in which portions of the brick elements immediately adjacent to the end edges of a shingle shall be shaped in such manner as to create an optical illusion that will prevent the ready detection of the meeting line between two adjoining shingles where they are butted together.

In order to obviate some of the disadvantages of such a cut-out shingle, it is of course preferable to form the shingle as a complete rectangle. The disadvantage that ordinarily follows from such a construction, however, is that when such rectangular shingled units are assembled in edge- -edge relation on a wall to be covered, the butting line of engagement between adjoining shingles is rather readily apparent to a casual observer. The reason for that is that in a complete rectangular unit made up of any length including a complete number of brick simulating elements in one row, the immediately adjoining row above or below will have only a half brick or part of a brick element at each end of the shingle. Consequently, when two shingles are butted together, the line of juncture between the adjoining shingles will be obvious and readily detectible to thecasual observer.

It is the principal object of my present invention to modify the appearance of a shingle in such manner as to hide or camouflage the butting line between two adjoining shingles, so that the location of such juncture may not be readily apparent to the glance of a casual observer. In order to provide such camouflaging appearance, I arrange the vertical mortar strip for the whole brick elements at one end of the shingle. I then modify the appearance of the half brick or part of a brick elements at that end of the shingle with vertical striations similar to those on a wire-cut brick, with the vertical striations of material relatively wide and with the dividing lines between them relatively narrow. I then dispose one of such relatively wide striations of the material substantially in line with the vertical mortar strips that are alongside the end edges of the whole bricks at that end of .the shingle. Such striations at the half brick edges break up the visual effect of a continuous vertical mortar strip adjacent the continuous vertical edge of the shingle. Consequently, when two shingles are butted together, the normal visual effect of a continuous line of juncture is modified or destroyed by the illusion created by the group of striations on each of the adjoining half brick units between the spaced vertical mortar strip sections immediately above and below the juncture of the half brick elements.

The manner in which the shingle is formed to create such illusion and the general construction of the shingle in accordance with the principle of my invention are illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which- Figure l is an elevational view of a portion of a wall formed by a group of the shingles;

Figure 2 is an enlarged sectional view illustrating the manner in which two shingles are butted end to end, in order to show the manner in which the respective ends of the shingles are formed and shaped to camouflage the line of juncture of the shingles;

Figure 3 is an enlarged elevational view showing faces of the shingles in Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a front elevational View, partially in perspective, of a right-hand corner shingle;

Figure 5 is a front elevational view of the short end of the corner shingle of Figure 4;

Figure 6 is a front elevational view, partially in perspective, of a left-hand corner shingle;

Figure 7 is an elevational view of the short end of the corner shingle of Figure 6.

As shown in Figure 1, a brick wall is simulated by covering an ordinary frame wall, for example, with a plurality of shingles ill, which are all uniform in appearance and structure, except for the corner pieces Ii and i 2, which are made to embody a relatively large front body portion Mand a short side portion l5. Each main wall shingle Ill consists-of a relatively rectangular body of treated material, such as pitch treated mineral wool or equivalent fibrous stock treated with a cementitious binder, preferably water-proofed, weather-proofed, and fire-proofed, to constitute a relatively strong, stiff, boardlike structure. The front face of the shingle i0 is shaped to embody several rows of brick-simulating portions or elements 29, horizontally spaced by mortar strips 2|. The bricksimulating portions and the mortar strip portions are made of dimensions correspond ing to the dimensions of standard bricks when laid with standard spacing. The top and side edges of the shingle are provided with lap strips 22 and 23. The opposite edges of the shingle are correspondingly unndercut at places 24 and 25' to receive and fit over the lap strips 22 and 23 of adjoining shingles. One shingle as a unit is made up; for example, with five horizontal rows, with the brick simulating elements of the adjoining rows staggered relative to each other. The top row of brick elements consists of five entire brick simulating elements. Of course, it

is understood that any number may be employed according to the size of the shingle that is to be made. The second row is provided with four whole brick elements and two half brick elements,

one half brick element being disposed at each end of the shingle. The third row and the fifth row are of course the same as the first row, and

the fourth row is the same as the second row.

At the right-hand end of the shingle, the end edges of the whole brick elements terminate at the end plane of the shingle body where it rises from the lap strip 23. At the left end of the shingle the mortar strip material 2| is disposed along the end edge of the whole brick portion 20. The outer edge 25 of the mortar strip 2| coincides with the outer end plane of the shingle body and represents the extreme outer edge of the shingle. As shown in Figure 3, this edge 25, which is the outer edge of the mortar strip 2|, engages the edge of the extreme brick 26 in the adjoining shingle.

In the row directly beneath the whole bricks 20 and 26 in the two adjoining shingles, the two half bricks 21 and 28 are engaged in butting relation. The edge line 25, representing the extreme left hand edge of the right-hand, shingle, would ordinarily be apparent and obvious to a casual observer and would show as a definite break between the two half bricks 21 and 28. The obvious appearance of the line 25 between the two half bricks 21 and 28 would spoil the appearance that the shingles would otherwise make as a brick wall, since the juncture lines of all of the shingles would be too obvious.

In order to prevent such juncture line between the adjoining half bricks of adjoining shingles from being apparent, and thus spoiling the appearance of the simulated brick wall, I treat the surfaces of the half bricks at the respective ends of the shingles by forming several parallel vertical bars or striations 29 formed by parallel lines and are adjacent the butting edges of the half bricks. The bars or striations 29 are formed to present the appearance that is found in ordinary wire-cut bricks in which the bar or brick portion 29 is relatively wide compared to the wire-cut line 3| between such bars or brick portions. In the half brick portion 21, a vertical bar 30 is located to be substantially in line with the vertical mortar strip 2| directly above it, and a similar mortar strip directly below it. Additional bars 29 are formed on the right-hand side of the central bar 3|] in such numbers as may be desired in the half brick 21. The half brick 28 is similarly provided with the bars 29 adjacent its edge, of such number and quantity so that there will be an equivalent number of bars on each side of the central bar 30 which is substantially in line with the vertical mortar strip portions 2|.

When the shingles are mounted, the two half brick portions 21 and 28 will have the appearance of a wire-cut brick and the wire-cut lines 3| will have such effect, because of their number, as to create the illusion that the two half bricks 21 and 28 are actually a single complete brick. Moreover, the disposition of the central bar portion 30 directly in line with the two vertical mortar strips 2| spaced above and below the bar portion 30 will create the optical illusion that the vertical mortar strips 2| terminate at the horizontal top and bottom edges of the apparent single brick made up of the two halves 21 and 28. When the shingles are made in such manner and then mounted on the wall, the juncture lines between adjoining shingles are not readily apparent to the casual observer and the simulated effect of a. brick wall structure is greatly enhanced, thereby contributing to the better appearance of the wall.

In Figures 4 and 6 I have illustrated two corner pieces that are to be made up according to the principle of my invention, in order that the shingles may be properly mounted to present the appearance of actual bricks at the corners of the building or structure upon which the shingles are mounted.

I claim as follows:

1. A shingle of the character described, consisting of a rectangular body with one surface shaped to simulate several horizontal rows of brick elements in staggered relation, one end edge of the shingle co-inciding with the end plane of the ends of whole bricks, the other end edge of the shingle being provided with a mortar strip at the ends of whole bricks to be butted against the ends of whole bricks of an adjoining shingle when placed in position, the intermediate half-bricks between the whole bricks at the mortar end of the shingle being formed to embody a vertical bar in line with the mortar strip to create an optical illusion of a break in the vertical mortar strip, thereby to camouflage the meeting line between two adjoining shingles.

A shingle consisting of a rectangular body having at least two vertically spaced horizontal rows of whole-brick-simulating elements, and an intermediate row of brick elements with the row terminating in a half-brick element at each end of the row at each end of the shingle, a mortar strip at the end of each whole brick in each row at one end of the shingle, and a group of parallel vertical bars in the face of each half-brick at each end of the shingle, one of the bars being in line with the mortar strip at the end of a whole brick.

3. A shingle as in claim 2, in which the bars in the half-bricks between the mortar strips, are so arranged that one baris directly in line with themortar strips above and below each half-brick.

4. A shingle for wall covering to simmulate a brick wall, and consisting of a plurality of superposed rows of brick-simulating elements separated by mortar strips, with certain end elements of the size and shape of part-brick to butt against partbricks on an adjacent shingle, the face portion of the part-bricks shaped by bars and indentations parallel to the edge of the shingle to simulate wire-cut brick, one bar on the face of the partbricks being in line with mortar strips at the end of a whole brick.

5. A shingle consisting of a rectangular body, with a face to present the appearance of several rows of bricks in staggered relation, the brick being separated by mortar strips, a half-brick at the ends of one or more rows, at least a portion of the face surface of such half-bricks being shaped by bars and. lines to appear wire-cut, and a bar on the half-bricks adjacent one edge of the shingle in line with mortar stripsat the end of a whole brick, thereby to camouflage the meeting lines between two adjoining shingles.

WILLIAM B. FRIED.

DISCLAIMER 2,l35,57 2.W'illiam B. Fried, Pittsburgh, Pa. BUILDING COVERING UNIT. Patent dated November 8, 1938. Disclaimer filed March 23, 1940, by the assignee, Briktex, Incorporated. I

Hereby enters this disclaimer to that part of the claims in said specification covering a construction in which a bar on a half or part brick is not of substantially the widthof the mortar joint and the bar is not substantially in geometrical alignment withthe mortar joints.

[Ofiimbl Gazette April 16, 1940.] 

